The Mask Comes Off

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We have all enjoyed the opportunity to put masks on our faces to pretend that we are someone different. We loved to pretend to be a superhero or cowboy or spaceman when we were kids. Even today the costume business for adults has become big business on Halloween. However, sometimes these masks aren’t real, but rather figurative. These figurative masks are used to try to create the illusion that we are somehow different from who we really are. They are used to hide behind as our true motives and goals remain in the shadows. If this description sounds sinister, it is meant to. As the mask of the Republican led congress is peeled off, their true motives have come out for all to see. What we see is hate, dishonesty and hubris.

The congress is now threatening to block debt limit legislation unless appropriate budget cuts are made to offset spending. They are threatening to prevent the passage of a Continuing Resolution which will allow the government to continue to function prior to the passage of a budget. They do all of this in the name of economic security. But economic security for who? We know that these efforts will slow the economic recovery for the middle class. Yet during these times of austerity for the middle class, corporations and the wealthy are posting record financial gains. The GOP is again plainly the party of the wealthy and the white.

GOP Leaders (Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service)

After the last Presidential election the GOP did a lot of soul-searching. They recognized that they were no longer representative of today’s America. They talked about outreach and open doors. They put on the mask of benevolence and understanding. They hid their faces with comments about the need for a new immigration policy and a pathway to citizenship. They shaded their eyes with a desire for a middle class economic recovery. Of late though there are arguments in the GOP claiming that all that they need to do to win a national election is to get more white voters to the polls. With growing agreement with that argument among the GOP leadership, the mask comes off and the real GOP shows its sinister and selfish face.

Congress is down to a 12% approval rating according to today’s NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Their mask is off and we need to make sure that the majority have to find new jobs in 2014.